rapidcityfandomcom-20200215-history
Whidbey Island Prep
Whidbey Island University Preparatory Academy (Whidbey Island Prep) is a public four-year college prep school in Randall City, Washington that serves students in 9th through 12th grades. The school is operated directly by the Whidbey Island University and opened its doors in 2010 to help local students a direct access to college. All graduates receive automatic admission to university as well as a scholarship should they choose to attend. The school's athletic teams are known as the Buccaneers (like their parent school) and compete in the city league WESCO. History Randall City High School was established in 1953 as a small school for only a few hundred students. The Randall City School District wanted to offer a secondary school for students to attend within city limits rather than sending them to Oak Harbor High School to finish schooling. After eight years, enrollment grew larger than anticipated causing new portable classrooms to be added to the facility in 1961. A minor remodel to address safety issues took place in 1967. As enrollment continued to grow, the school was determined to be too small to safely accomodate the expanding student body. To counter this, an expansion project took place from 1975-1977 that added a new gymnasium and new classrooms surrounding the auditorium. The project also renovated the library and added a small secondary building for the new cafeteria. Still dealing with a small facility, a major expansion took place between 1996 and 1998 that added nearly 30 new classrooms in the space where the cafeteria once stood. The expansion caused the cafeteria to be relocated to its original location which caused a bit of controversy due to the lack of space in that area of the school. Nevertheless, the new addition served the school well until another spike in enrollment caused another expansion only a few years later. In 2005 the school opened a new second floor that added 28 new classrooms and a second level to the auditorium. The new second floor finally alleviated the concern over student population although the school remained an eyesore with its old brick facade and lack of windows. Even the newest areas of the facility looked as bad as the older areas. A detached swimming pool was added to the property in 2010. In 2012 the school district had a construction bond approved to build a brand new facility for Randall City High School. The new building is located approximately 0.3 miles from the original campus at 118 W Fakkema Road and is open in the fall of 2015 in time for the graduating class of 2016. Although the new building is far larger compared to the original school, as of its opening it is already too small to suit the students' needs due to Washington state requiring new smaller class sizes. In response, the school district is looking at either adding new portable classrooms or expanding the building with leftover funds from their 2012 construction bond. They have money allocated for a second high school although those funds could go to expanding the school. Athletics Randall City High School is a member of the Western Interscholastic Conference and competes within the 3A division in 16 disciplines. State championships The Randall City Knights have soldified themselves as one of the most successful high school athletic programs winning 44 state championships since the school was founded in 1953. Those championships are listed below by sport. Construction bond In 2012, the Randall City School District applied for a grant to build a brand new high school building, renovate the current high school into a second middle school, and renovate two of the three elementary schools. The new school is expected to open in the fall 0f 2015 in time for the 2016 graduating class. Construction on the new high school began in early 2013 and by October 2013 the school opened the new gymnasium and pool to athletic events only. Renovations at the current high school are also being done while the new facility is under construction which has forced some of the classes to relocate to portable classroms around the property. The school district will open approximately 15 classrooms at the new school during the 2014 school year to alleviate some of the growing pains. The new multi-purpose athletic stadium opened in February 2014 in time for the 2013-14 Knights boy's soccer and track & field squads to utilize the facility. Knights Field was completed during the summer and will be used by the baseball squad in the spring. A new wrestling room and tennis courts were also completed prior to the 2014 school year.